Easy piano song, sheet music with note names
Minuet in G piano notes: letters, octaves and easy sheet music
Minuet in G piano notes: the whole minuet with letter names and octaves, in G major, 3/4, D4 to B5. Play it and print it (A4 and Letter PDF).
Two kinds of page: the tune with a letter name under every note, and a worksheet with the names left blank.
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Quick answer
Minuet in G on this page is the whole minuet (32 bars): 126 notes in 32 bars of 3/4, in G major, with a range of D4 to B5 (21 semitones). It begins on D5 and ends on G4. Below: the letter names with octave numbers and the left hand, the notes on the staff, a version you can play, a note-name worksheet and the checks that were run. It is a simplified melody: what is left out is listed under “What is on this page”.
Minuet in G at a glance
- Key
- G major (one sharp)
- Time signature
- 3/4: three beats to the bar, each a quarter note
- Range
- D4 to B5, 21 semitones
- Notes and bars
- 126 notes, 32 bars
- First note
- D5 (scale degree 5)
- Last note
- G4 (scale degree 1)
- Notes outside the key signature
- C♯ (accidentals in the tune)
- Piece
- Minuet in G major, BWV Anh. 114, from the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
- Composer
- Christian Petzold; long attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach because it was copied into Anna Magdalena Bach’s notebook
- Form
- 32 bars: two halves of 16 bars, each repeated in the original; in the manuscript the minuet is followed by a G minor minuet and then played again
- Part on this page
- the right-hand line once through, 32 bars
- Tempo on this page
- quarter note = 120; a steady practice speed chosen for this page; the edition marks no tempo
- Hands
- Right hand: the melody shown on the staff. Left hand: the bass notes of each bar, from the same edition, are in the table below.
- Level
- Harder: wider than a major sixth (21 semitones); wider than an octave; 4 notes outside the key signature; a leap of a minor sixth or more. How the level is worked out
What is on this page
The staff shows the upper (right-hand) line of the minuet once through, 32 bars. In the original each half (bars 1 to 16 and bars 17 to 32) is repeated, and the minuet is followed by the Minuet in G minor and then played again; those are not included. The left-hand column gives the bass notes of each bar.
Press a note on the staff to hear it. The sound is made in your browser from the notes of this page (a plain synthesiser, not a recording). Normal speed is quarter note = 120: a steady practice speed chosen for this page; the edition marks no tempo.
Minuet in G page 1 of 2
G major · 3/4 · melody with note names
Key G major (one sharp: F♯) Range D4 to B5 Music attributed to Christian Petzold (suite of 1720); in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, long credited to J. S. Bach
Minuet in G page 2 of 2
G major · 3/4 · melody with note names
Scale of G major G A B C D E F♯ Middle C is C4, the C nearest the middle of the keyboard
Melody: Mutopia Project, "Menuet", upper voice (Allen Garvin) (Public Domain; Mutopia-2017/01/19-75), checked note by note against 2 other sources. Free to print and share. musictheoryprint.com/charts/minuet-in-g-piano-notes
Minuet in G: name the notes page 1 of 2
G major · 3/4 · worksheet
Name Date Class
Write the letter name of every note on the line under it. The key signature tells you which notes are sharp: F♯. The home note of the key is G.
Minuet in G: name the notes page 2 of 2
G major · 3/4 · worksheet
Check your answers against the sheet with the note names. Extra: circle every note that is a G, the home note of the key.
Melody: Mutopia Project, "Menuet", upper voice (Allen Garvin) (Public Domain). Free to print and share. musictheoryprint.com/charts/minuet-in-g-piano-notes
The notes of Minuet in G, bar by bar
126 notes in 32 bars, in G major. Each note is a letter and an octave number: C4 is middle C, the C nearest the middle of the keyboard, and the numbers go up by one at every C. The ♯ and ♭ mean the black key above or below the letter. “held” means a tied note that is not played again; “rest” is silence. The left-hand column gives the bass notes of each bar, read from the same edition; “held” there means a bass note that is still sounding from the bar before.
| Bar | Right hand (melody) | Left hand (bass) | do re mi |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D5 G4 A4 B4 C5 | B3 A3 | sol do re mi fa |
| 2 | D5 G4 G4 | B3 | sol do do |
| 3 | E5 C5 D5 E5 F♯5 | C4 | la fa sol la ti |
| 4 | G5 G4 G4 | B3 | do do do |
| 5 | C5 D5 C5 B4 A4 | A3 | fa sol fa mi re |
| 6 | B4 C5 B4 A4 G4 | G3 | mi fa mi re do |
| 7 | F♯4 G4 A4 B4 G4 | D4 B3 G3 | ti do re mi do |
| 8 | A4 | D4 D3 C4 B3 A3 | re |
| 9 | D5 G4 A4 B4 C5 | B3 A3 | sol do re mi fa |
| 10 | D5 G4 G4 | G3 B3 G3 | sol do do |
| 11 | E5 C5 D5 E5 F♯5 | C4 | la fa sol la ti |
| 12 | G5 G4 G4 | B3 C4 B3 A3 G3 | do do do |
| 13 | C5 D5 C5 B4 A4 | A3 F♯3 | fa sol fa mi re |
| 14 | B4 C5 B4 A4 G4 | G3 B3 | mi fa mi re do |
| 15 | A4 B4 A4 G4 F♯4 | C4 D4 D3 | re mi re do ti |
| 16 | G4 | G3 G2 | do |
| 17 | B5 G5 A5 B5 G5 | G3 | mi do re mi do |
| 18 | A5 D5 E5 F♯5 D5 | F♯3 | re sol la ti sol |
| 19 | G5 E5 F♯5 G5 D5 | E3 G3 E3 | do la ti do sol |
| 20 | C♯5 B4 C♯5 A4 | A3 A2 | fi mi fi re |
| 21 | A4 B4 C♯5 D5 E5 F♯5 | A3 | re mi fi sol la ti |
| 22 | G5 F♯5 E5 | B3 D4 C♯4 | do ti la |
| 23 | F♯5 A4 C♯5 | D4 F♯3 A3 | ti re fi |
| 24 | D5 | D4 D3 C4 | sol |
| 25 | D5 G4 F♯4 G4 | D4 | sol do ti do |
| 26 | E5 G4 F♯4 G4 | E4 | la do ti do |
| 27 | D5 C5 B4 | B3 A3 G3 | sol fa mi |
| 28 | A4 G4 F♯4 G4 A4 | D4 | re do ti do re |
| 29 | D4 E4 F♯4 G4 A4 B4 | F♯3 | sol la ti do re mi |
| 30 | C5 B4 A4 | E3 G3 F♯3 | fa mi re |
| 31 | B4 D5 G4 F♯4 | G3 B2 D3 | mi sol do ti |
| 32 | G4 | G3 D3 G2 | do |
do re mi uses movable do: do is G.
Which keys to press
The tune spans 13 letter names, from D4 to B5, more than an octave, so the hand has to travel along the keyboard. Try the notes on the virtual piano or press a note on the staff above to hear it.
What the tune is made of
How the melody moves
Each of the 125 moves from one note to the next, counted.
Which note lengths it uses
Every note counted by its length, as a fraction of a whole note.
Most-used note: G4 (25 times). Longest run of one repeated note: 2. Different pitches: 14, made from 8 note names (some are used in two octaves). Biggest leap: 16 semitones.
How the notes were checked
Not one note on this page was typed in or remembered. The melody is read by a program from Mutopia Project, "Menuet", upper voice (Allen Garvin) (Public Domain; Mutopia-2017/01/19-75). A second program then looked for the same notes, in the same order, in each of the sources below, which were typeset or encoded by other people. The number is the share of this page’s notes that are found there, whatever key the other source is in; where a source covers only the start of the tune, only that part is compared (it is named in the table).
| Source | Licence | Notes there | Same pitches | Same pitches and lengths |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia, "Minuets in G major and G minor" (score 1 in the article)revision 1324157674 of 2025-11-25; compared on bars 1 to 8 of this page | CC BY-SA 4.0 | 32 | 100% | 100% |
| Wikimedia Commons, "Bach - Minuet in G Major.mid"uploaded 2019-06-06, SHA-1 e489f8b5eb | Public domain | 127 | 100% | 99% |
The second column is lower than the first because editions write the same long notes in different ways (a half note and a tied pair, a held last note) and because performance MIDI files shorten or lengthen notes. Pitch is the part that matters for the letter names. A MIDI file of a whole piano piece does not say which notes are the melody, so the program takes the highest note at each moment; a melody note that sits under a higher accompaniment note can be missed, and that is the usual reason for a “no matching note” above.
Minuet in G: questions people ask
What are the letter notes of Minuet in G?
The first notes, with their octave numbers, are D5 G4 A4 B4 C5 D5 G4 G4 E5 C5 D5 E5. Every note of the whole minuet is in the table above, one bar per row (middle C is C4, the C nearest the middle of the keyboard; the next C up is C5).
What key and time signature is Minuet in G in?
On this page it is in G major (one sharp), in 3/4: three beats to the bar, each a quarter note. A minuet is a dance in three beats to the bar, so 3/4: count 1-2-3 with the stress on 1.
Why are there sharps, flats or naturals that are not in the key signature?
The key signature of G major gives one sharp. In this tune the note is written with an accidental sign (C♯): bar 20: C♯5; bar 21: C♯5; bar 23: C♯5. A sharp, flat or natural sign before a note applies to that note for the rest of the bar.
Which hand plays what, and how high and low does it go?
The range is D4 to B5, 21 semitones. The tune spans 13 letter names, from D4 to B5, more than an octave, so the hand has to travel along the keyboard.
Is this the whole of Minuet in G?
Yes, for this minuet: the 32 bars are the whole G major minuet played once through, without the repeats. The G minor minuet that follows it in the notebook is a separate piece.
Is Minuet in G free to print and share?
The Minuet is from a harpsichord suite by Christian Petzold of 1720 according to Wikipedia, and it was copied into a notebook in 1725, so it is far out of copyright. The edition used here is the Mutopia Project edition typeset from the Bach-Gesellschaft print, marked Public Domain. The sheets are made by this site and may be printed and shared.
How do I know the notes are right?
The melody is read by a program from Mutopia Project, "Menuet", upper voice (Allen Garvin), never typed in. A second program then compares it, note by note and in order, with 2 other sources: Wikipedia's score (100% of its notes, bars 1 to 8); MIDI file “Bach - Minuet in G Major” (100% of its notes). 2 of the 2 agree with this page on every pitch. Where they differ, the page lists every note and bar, so you can see the difference.
Did Bach write the Minuet in G?
Not according to Wikipedia: the two minuets, in G major (BWV Anh. 114) and G minor (BWV Anh. 115), are movements from a harpsichord suite by Christian Petzold of 1720, and they used to be attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach because they appear in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. The edition used here is credited “attributed to Christian Petzold” in its header. Wikipedia adds that the 1965 pop song “A Lover’s Concerto” is based on the first of these minuets.
musictheoryprint.com · free to print and share
Minuet in G in real music: the numbers
In G major the tune uses 8 of the 12 notes of the chromatic scale, 1 of them outside the key signature. It moves by step 87 times out of 125, and ends on the home note, as 75% of major-key art songs do.
This tune against real art songs
| What | This tune | OpenScore Lieder (880 major-key songs) |
|---|---|---|
| First note | D5 (degree 5) | 41.7% start on degree 5 |
| Last note | G4 (degree 1) | 75.1% end on degree 1 |
| Range of the tune | 21 semitones (D4 to B5) | 93% of 1,458 first vocal lines span fewer semitones, 3% more |
The art-song numbers are for the first vocal line of every major-key song whose key signature does not change; the numbers for this tune are counted on the melody printed above.
How common G major is
| Collection | Items with a key | Share in G major | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenScore Lieder | 1,462 | 8.1% | 3 of 24 |
| Mutopia | 1,974 | 14.5% | 2 of 24 |
| MusicBrainz works | 13,669 | 9.8% | 3 of 24 |
| MusicBrainz works | 5,340 | 8.9% | 2 of 24 |
| Open Opus work titles | 3,587 | 8.7% | 3 of 24 |
| AcousticBrainz recordings | 63,124 | 6.7% | 4 of 24 |
Counts of key signatures (and estimated major or minor) in the collections the site has measured; see the key page for G major.
Where the tune sits among singers' ranges
| Voice type (as labelled in the scores) | Typical range of a real song line | This tune (D4 to B5) |
|---|---|---|
| Soprano | E♭4 to F5 | wider than this range by 7 semitones |
| Alto / Contralto | C4 to C5 | wider than this range by 9 semitones |
| Tenor | F3 to F♯4 | wider than this range by 8 semitones |
| Baritone | C3 to E4 | wider than this range by 5 semitones |
| Bass | A2 to C4 | wider than this range by 6 semitones |
Typical range = the median across song lines of the lowest and highest notes (ignoring one stray note each side), from 285 vocal lines in the OpenScore Lieder Corpus. "Fits" means both ends of the tune are inside it.
Method
- This tune's own numbers are counted by a script on the decoded melody (tied notes counted once, rests ignored).
- Art-song numbers are read from the files behind the site's statistics pages (OpenScore Lieder Corpus: key and scale-degree counts for the first vocal line of every piece, vocal ranges of 1,458 lines).
- Key counts for Mutopia and MusicBrainz come from the same published statistics; a key is counted from its key signature.
Data: computed from the OpenScore Lieder Corpus (CC0), 1,462 scores. Snapshot: commit 6b2dc542ce (2026-04-07).
Background
Excerpts from open reference works, reproduced as published (references, images and tables removed). Every excerpt names its source, licence and original article.
About “Minuet in G”
Overview
The Minuets in G major and G minor, BWV Anh. 114 and 115, are a pair of movements from a suite for harpsichord by Christian Petzold in 1720, which, through their appearance in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, used to be attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. These minuets, which are suitable for beginners on the piano, are among the best known pieces of music literature. The 1965 pop song "A Lover's Concerto", of which millions of copies were sold, is based on the first of these Minuets.
History
In the late 17th century, Christian Petzold became organist at the Sophienkirche of Dresden. By the time Johann Sebastian Bach started to visit Dresden, Petzold was well acquainted with several of the city's musicians, including the violinist Johann Georg Pisendel, with whom Bach was also acquainted. In 1720, Petzold composed the music for the inauguration of the new Silbermann organ of the Sophienkirche. Bach gave a concert on that organ when he visited Dresden in September 1725. Petzold died in 1733: as organist of the Sophienkirche he was succeeded by Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann.
Description
In Tzschirich's manuscript, the Minuet pair in G major and G minor is preceded by five other movements of Petzold's Suite, respectively a Prelude, an Allemande, a Courante, a Sarabande and a Bourrée. After the double Minuet, Petzold's Suite continues with a Gigue and a Passepied with Trio. According to the manuscript, the Minuets are to be performed da capo, in this order:
- Menuet alternativement (=first Minuet, G major)
- Menuet 2 (=second Minuet, G minor)
- On reprend le premier Menuet (repeat the first Minuet)
Source: Wikipedia, “Minuets in G major and G minor” — CC BY-SA 4.0 — text excerpted; see the article for the full text and authors. Revision of 2025-11-25.
Sources and licences for the text, scores and recordings on this page are on the credits page.
Sources: Mutopia Project, "Menuet", upper voice (Allen Garvin), Wikipedia, "Minuets in G major and G minor" (score 1 in the article), Wikimedia Commons, "Bach - Minuet in G Major.mid".